"I was No. 1 trending. And then No. 2 was Kylian Mbappe": Luke Littler shellshocked at social media response to Ally Pally debut

Luke Littler has become the talk of the darting world after the 16-year-old prodigy made his World Darts Championship debut prior to Christmas.

Littler averaged 106.12 in his opener against Christian Kist before returning to down Andrew Gilding the night after and he was also the talk of X (formerly known as Twitter) trending alongside Kylian Mbappe which he couldn't believe.

“It has been unbelievable. When I went on Twitter, I was No. 1 trending. And then No. 2 was Kylian Mbappe! It’s crazy. Mbappe and me," said Littler as per Oche!

“What I did on Wednesday was unbelievable. What I have done against Andrew was OK. I’m glad I got the win again. I haven’t really replied to anyone yet. I have my Snapchat account with all my friends on it. Then there is Messenger and Instagram. There will be even more messages on there now.

“This time last Christmas, I was at home, playing on my Xbox. And I was watching the darts. Now, I’m coming back after Christmas to play in the tournament.”

He also hopes to blaze a trail for further young stars to pick up darts and also spoke about having to mature quicker with his ProTour debut set for next month.

“Hopefully I’m inspiring teenagers like myself to pick some darts up and try their best to get on the board.

“I think I’m really mature for my age. I just do what I do, which is practice. I put my headphones on before a game. When I go home, I just go on my Xbox. I’m not one of the lads who goes out on the streets. I’m not into that.

“Now I have a Tour Card, I have got to be professional on January 1. When you are walking up to the oche and people are asking for my autograph, it’s unbelievable. I do remember when I was about 11 years old, scribbling different signatures on bits of paper. To practice my signature.”